Pahor said he would forego the right of putting forward a new prime minister and would discuss a date for the elections with lawmakers next week.

Former law professor Cerar, 54, took office in 2014 after his Modern Centre Party (SMC) won a surprise election victory only a month after its creation.

Despite helping to stabilise the economy after the small eurozone country came close to needing a bailout, his party has plunged in the polls after several crises piled up towards the end of the government's term.

The final straw was a court ruling against a referendum approving a billion-euro ($1.2-billion) rail link to Koper, Slovenia's only major port.

Relations with Cerar's coalition partners had also reached breaking point and public sector workers have staged a series of strikes in recent weeks.

His term in office had been due to end in July.

Cerar's SMC is lagging in the polls behind the centre-right SDS party of former prime minister Janez Jansa and the Social Democrats currently in his coalition.

But outstripping them all is Marjan Sarec, a former comedian turned politician, who has tapped into widespread disillusionment with politics but has no established party structure.